An Analysis Of Alice Walker's 'In Search Of Our Mothers'

My feelings of how I see the world are easily expressed throughout my hierarchy were most people can easily distinguish the different levels of it. When Hare says, “what we are concerned about comes out in what we choose to do” (Hare, 1993, 107) it cannot be more true. Actions speak a lot louder than words. In fact, I believe your actions are the only way to prove something truly matters to you. If you speak it without demonstrating any action, then it is as if it never even mattered to you. It was merely an imitation of others to satisfy what matters to them and not yourself. People should be able to distinguish what your hierarchy is based on the actions you take. Your actions should be determined based on Frederick Nietzsche’s ideology

She focuses on the idea of African American women in the post-civil war era, and how they were so controlled that they were on the verge of losing all aspects of their identity. They would do what they could to fight the environments control over them in hopes of gaining total freedom, but does not exist. They would write poetry, garden or any other form of creativity to try to reach this unachievable goal of total freedom. On the other hand, some people relinquished their true passion and talent because it was something the surrounding environment would not want African American women to take part in. If they relinquished it, then their emotional identity they strive for would slowly die with it. She further explained how these women would “…enter loveless marriages, without joy; and prostitutes, without resistance; and become mothers of children, without fulfillment” (Walker, 1983,

She wanted her emotional identity to be illuminated, and the only way she knew how was by expressing her creativity through gardening. She worked day in and day out, but still chose to spend what little free time she had doing it. She thought it was the closest she would ever get to having any sense of control over her identity and the environment itself. “Only when my mother is working in her flowers that she is radiant, almost to the point of being invisible” (Walker, 1983, 462). Her work made others so impressed when they witnessed her garden, so they ignored her physical, identity as an African American woman, and solely focused on her emotional identity as a creative mind. It was impossible for her to try to change her emotional identity without affected her physical identity in the process because her current environment would not allow